WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Paul Cole serves as the Executive Director of the American Labor Studies Center.  He is Secretary-Treasurer Emeritus of the New York State AFL-CIO, a former Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a former Member of the Board of Directors of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and National Education Association (NEA).  While this Labor Perspective was delivered back in October of 2006, it serves as an interesting take on baseball’s place in American Labor History.

Being here at the (Baseball) Hall of Fame reminds me of a story of two old baseball fans.

They had been best friends for years and they both live to their early 90's, when one of them suddenly falls deathly ill.

His friend comes to visit him on his deathbed and they're reminiscing about their long friendship, when the dying man's friend asks: "Listen, when you die, do me a favor.  I want to know if there's baseball in heaven."

The dying man said: "We've been friends for years, this I'll do for you."

And then he dies.

A couple days later, his surviving friend is sleeping when he hears his friend's voice.

The voice says: "I've got some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that there's baseball in heaven."

"What's the bad news?," he asks.

"You're pitching on Wednesday," his friend’s voice answers.

There is a compelling need in this country to provide opportunities for more people, especially students, to learn about the history of the American Labor Movement and the contributions that Workers and their Unions have made to our Nation’s economic, political, cultural and social life.

Recent polling conducted by Peter Hart notes that, for the first time in history, a majority of Americans - 54% - say they know little or nothing about the Labor Movement and when asked where they learned it, they indicate from the media or friends.

Interestingly, the question about learning about Labor in the schools was not even mentioned.

That is why we created the American Labor Studies Center whose mission it is to create, collect and disseminate high quality curriculum materials on Labor History and Labor Studies to K-12 teachers and beyond through our web site (www.labor-studies.org) and through workshops and symposiums such as this.

I am especially proud of our joint venture with Ithaca College and the Baseball Hall of Fame of our “Hardball and Handshakes” standards-based unit.

So I applaud Ithaca College and the Hall of Fame for this unique partnership in sponsoring today’s program.

Major League Baseball provides a wonderful case study to help people understand the fundamental principles of organizing and collective bargaining.

We have heard some outstanding presentations by some real experts on various aspects of the history of Labor Relations in baseball.

I am not a baseball or labor historian but a students of each and will try to provide some insight into my assigned topic: “The American Labor Movement: Parallels and Relationships to Baseball.”

The history of Labor Relations in baseball provides some interesting comparisons and contrasts to the growth and development of Unions in both the Private and Public Sectors in our country.

One of the most fundamental questions is whether Professional Baseball Players should even be considered “Workers” or not.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: HOF Speech.docx (live.com)